I first heard about it from my mom. A conversation about Coachella that turned into a conversation about a “little festival” she attended in the late 90’s. One that took place before I was born, though if she remembers correctly and attended the 1999 fair, one that I also attended while in the womb. A festival created by Canadian singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan, featuring women artists, designed for women. We never really spoke about Lilith Fair much further than one off comments, but when the documentary Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery was announced to have its world premiere at TIFF, she knew she had to get tickets. Along with her two best friends, we headed downtown together, 20-something fangirls still alive inside of them as they hoped to see their favourite music icon grace the stage of the film festival.

Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery is directed by Ally Pankiw, in her departure from narrative filmmaking to tell the story of Lilith Fair, a multi-stage concert tour and travelling music festival that ran from 1997-1999. Founded by Canada’s Sarah McLachlan, the fair featured female performers, and championed their music in the late 90’s. A time when radio stations refused to play two songs by women back to back, worried it would cause people to change the channel. When female artists were told to sell their music through sex, told that showing just an inch or two more of skin would mean thousands of dollars more worth of sales. When homophobia was rampant and women’s bodies were treated as objects – though not that much has changed here.

While remaining true to a documentary, heavily leaning on archival footage from the fair and interviews with women including Paula Cole, Sheryl Crow, Jewel, and the Indigo Girls today, Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery tells the story of the festival in a digestible manner, with a narrative arc that follows the birth and death of Lilith Fair. A story that starts with McLachlan finding her love for music, and ends with one of the biggest female led movements in the music industry, that still remains largely un-talked about to this day.

It is astounding what Pankiw is able to do in telling the story of Lilith Fair. She makes the smart choice to relentlessly remind us the importance of this fair. Of what McLachlan and the other artists were able to accomplish, surrounded by misogyny and homophobia in the industry and the world. Of the awful words of men that were, and still are, the cultural norm, that surrounded these artist everyday, but who chose to continue on despite. At times it feels a little bit like, “okay, we get it”, but as I think about what has changed in the industry, and realize that what these women were facing is still largely the unchanged today, I know Pankiw made the correct choice to keep pushing, to remind us how much these women had to overcome, and how much we still have to do.

This is not to say that the film does not celebrate the achievements that the artists of Lilith Fair accomplished. Rather, this film is a true celebration throughout. Championing McLachlan and all of the other artists, the film honours them, and what they accomplished in spite of the voices telling them “no”. Celebrating their resilience and their art, and the inspiration they have all become for women today, shaping today’s music in ways they may have never been expecting as they graced the stage of the all-women led music festival.

The film is also devastatingly inspiring, drawing tears from audience members as we are reminded of the power of these women, and what they accomplished. Of the money raised towards breast cancer research, the way they used their voices to stand up for a women’s right to choose, their unrelenting passion to create a safe space for women and queer people, mothers and children and teenagers alike. It never feels like it uses any one artist’s story of journey to manipulate our emotions, but rather tells their story in relation to the fair and how their own experiences in the music industry lead them to McLachlan and Lilith Fair in a way that would have any empathetic person who is or loves a woman feel all the emotions.

The use of archival footage really succeeded in not only allowing the generation who got to see the festival to reminisce, but also succeeded in allowing people like me to experience nostalgia for something I never even attended. A safe space for women and queer people that is hard to comprehend in todays day, a place where political opinions are respected and music is something to experience together. A community of people coming together in a space where they feel accepted, to celebrate music without the noise of phones or social media, escaping the misogyny of the outside world if only for a few hours, while also championing these artists’ fight against it.

It was special to see my mom and her friends get to relive Lilith Fair for just under 2 hours. At the time when they attended, they say they didn’t realize just how impactful the festival was. For them, it was a way to see Sarah McLachlan and all their favourite artists perform. Watching this documentary, they learned alongside myself the importance of this festival. How much misogyny existed, and still exists, in the music industry. How much Lilith Fair helped women in music to be seen and heard. How much tangible evidence their is of their impact on the society we know today. Now two women can be played back-to-back on the radio. Now women are a bit more accepted when they sing about their feelings and their anger. There is still so much further to go, but there was so much that Lilith Fair and these women accomplished that is often washed over with all the negativity they received in the media at the time of the festival.

The documentary does look at the Lilith Fair with slightly rose-coloured glasses on. While it digs hard into the outside world’s views on the fair and the misogyny in the music industry, not much was said about why the fair ended in 1999. While it respects McLachlan’s decision to end the tour due to personal decisions and needing to move on out of the stress of the tour, I also wish it put more of a spotlight on how the culture of music itself let this end at such a peak. I think it should have dug deeper into why the industry let so much fall on the backs of the artists and their small management teams, instead of supporting these women to allow the fair to grow-up naturally out of McLachlan’s hands when she was ready to move on. While it is implied that there was a lack of support because of the misogyny in the industry, I think a stone-cold ending reminding us that support for women simply does not exist outside of these communities created by and for women would have really amplified Pankiw’s relentless reminder of the impact of this fair and her reminder that there is still so much work to do.

Despite this minor grievance, the film ends on a high. Videos of current superstars on tour, creating spaces for women to express themselves and come as they are. Reminding us that, while there is still so much work to do, it is being done. It just doesn’t Look like Lilith Fair. Maybe that’s because times have changed. In 2010, when Lilith Fair staged a revival and many dates had to be cancelled due to performers backing out and audience expectations changing, maybe it was a sign that this kind of thing just simple wouldn’t work anymore.

But maybe, it doesn’t look like Lilith Fair because there really can never be another one. A young woman frustrated with the industry, who called her friends and said, “let’s do something about it”. Taking this something on the road, she created the iconic Lilith Fair, not just a festival, but a movement for good, calling for change in the music industry and community to be made where women can express themselves through art while being their unabashed selves. Change will come, but as Sarah McLachlan said after the screening, it will look different, and it is up to us to find the different that works in today’s world. Director Ally Pankiw does a beautiful job of telling the story of Lilith Fair, demystifying cultural beliefs that this was just another failed women’s movement and reminding us of the power that this and all female spaces hold.

Lilith Fair: Building a Mystery was screened at the 2025 Toronto International Film Festival and will be released on CBC Gem on September 17. Image courtesy of TIFF.